Tips for How to Beat Velkhana – Monster Hunter: World Guide

The mascot monster of Iceborne delivers an icy beatdown.

It’s inevitable. At some point in Monster Hunter: World – Iceborne, you’re going to have to beat Velkhana. The frosty Elder Dragon all but symbolizes the sub-zero temperatures of Iceborne. And it delivers them with a bevvy of beams, sheets of ice, and some nasty icicles directly from the sky. How do you deal with this terror of the tundra? Find out how in our Monster Hunter guide for how to beat Velkhana in Iceborne.

Velkhana Attacks: Monster Hunter World – Iceborne Guide

Velkhana is a unique creature in Monster Hunter. The Elder Dragon uses a mix of ice-based ranged attacks and sharp, precise tail strikes. Neither of these function like a lot of other creatures in World or even Iceborne. And you’ll need to get used to how Velkhana telegraphs the moves.

The tail stabs aren’t too tricky. Velkhana will turn her head to face a target, then spin her entire body around to make the stab. The stab itself isn’t too tricky to avoid, either. Its area of effect is small, since it’s a stab rather than a swipe, and shouldn’t be hard to block or dodge. You just need to watch out for when Velkhana repeatedly strikes over and over again! In that case, getting in close or using the “Superman Dive” might be your best option.

Otherwise Velkhana mostly relies on ice attacks. These naturally inflict Iceblight, which increases the amount of stamina you consume when sprinting, dodging, etc. But she also has a special effect that (so far) only Velkhana inflicts. The monster can actually freeze you in place! This occurs when Velkhana breathes her freezing steam directly onto the ground. Your character will walk slowly and be left open to follow-up attacks.

Velkhana also creates ice out of thin air. This can manifest out of the ground in the form of ice walls that sprout in up to three waves at a time. The Elder Dragon can also summon icicles out of the air that drop onto unsuspecting players. Your best bet is to run away from both of these attacks, or use the aforementioned dive ability. You can tell when an ice attack is coming — and where it will appear — by the circular waves of cold that spread out on the ground when Velkhana readies to summon them. The aerial ice shards are also visible forming above the ground before they drop.

Finally, Velkhana can fire “beams” of frozen air from her mouth. She rears up with a lot less warning than Vaal Hazak (who has a similar beam attack), and will blow you back but good. These are unblockable without the Guard Up skill or set bonus.

Tips to Beat Velkhana: Monster Hunter World – Iceborne Guide

Nullberries and the Iceproof Mantle are tremendously important. The former will cure you of Iceblight if (and likely when) you are afflicted. The latter will temporarily protect you from the status effect, remove it if you are affected, and reduce damage from ice attacks altogether. Not to mention that Iceborne now allows Monster Hunter players to upgrade mantles with jewel slots. You can decorate the Iceproof Mantle with things like more attack or affinity! Although the benefits only last as long as you wear the thing, that’s actually a pretty decent chunk of time.

When Velkhana puts down its freezing mist, be prepared to move. The clouds can sap your strength with Iceblight and even freeze you in place. If that happens, the Handler should warn you what’s about to happen, and you’ll see your hunter begin to slow down. You need to move as quickly as possible (which isn’t very quick at all) out of the radius.

When you’re on the offensive, Flash Pods don’t seem tremendously effective against Velkhana. They bring her to the ground, if she’s in the air, but don’t stun her. She just gets right back up — more aggressive than before. You want to use the Clutch Claw to bring her back to Earth instead. When she’s not enraged, you can fire a Slinger Burst directly into her head (no matter where she’s flying) to slam her back into the ground.

There’s one other way to bring her down, too. You can use Velkhana’s own ice walls against the beast. The taller ones block your vision and (unfortunately) do not serve to block her ice beams and other attacks. When they shatter, though — either from Velkhana’s physical attacks or your own hits — the walls then become shorter. You can walk directly up these stubby ice cliffs and sprint off them like ledges. This lets you land mounting attacks without normally available terrain!

As for what equipment to use against Velkhana, Ice Resistance is obviously a plus. Although the Iceproof Mantle should serve you just fine for much of the fight. Make sure to upgrade it by finishing the “Rime Duet” optional quest as soon as it becomes available. For your second piece of equipment: the Cleanser Booster is overkill with the Iceproof Mantle and Nullberries. Consider the Health Booster instead, or maybe the Temporal Mantle. For weapons: Velkhana is weakest to fire damage.

Velkhana Gear: Monster Hunter World Guide

The star of the show on either set of Velkhana armor is Frostcraft. This is a unique skill that powers up any weapon for as long as it is sheathed. Once you draw it, the power boost starts to go away as you attack. But both the Alpha and Beta sets come with levels of Quick Sheathe and Critical Draw. These synergize nicely with the strange ability. The Long Sword, in particular, will likely benefit with its own new draw attack abilities.

Meanwhile, Divine Blessing and Flinch Free are rarely bad skills to have. They’re just outshone by better defensive skills in Monster Hunter: World. Finally, Coalescence is another very interesting, but highly situational skill. It increases your attack, elemental power, and status buildup by a fair amount for a brief period after you recover from some kind of blight. This requires you to get hit by enemy attacks, which is rarely the preferred move, but it’s also not uncommon given how many monsters inflict ailments in Iceborne. It’s only on the Alpha set, though; you’ll need to sacrifice some decoration slots if you want to use it.

Thanks for reading another Monster Hunter: World – Iceborne guide. We hope it helps you beat Velkhana in record time (or at least with as few carts as possible). Good luck, hunter!